Moving to Tumblr

(Technically, I already moved everything over a month ago, but...)

I'm officially moving this blog over to Tumblr, specifically: mini-ventures.tumblr.com.

I won't be updating this site anymore. All updates will be on the new Tumblr and on my DeviantArt page: herebewonder.deviantart.com.

Thanks and cheers!

-c

Link - Mechanic Program

Link is kind of the Neville Longbottom of Tron: Uprising. He's mostly there as a kind of bumbling, comic relief character. Unlike Neville though, Link never really got the chance to stand up and show what he's made of since the series only lasted one season.

The main thing I wanted for Link was a mini that showed his smaller, mild-mannered stance. So, I used the Project: Superman Heroclix and added his disk with green stuff.

Not much more to say about Link, sadly.

Paige - Tesler's Second-in-Command

I did Paige already, but after re-watching Tron: Uprising recently, I really liked her look when she was first introduced. The cloak and helmet just look cool and we don't really see them again much afterwards.

For this version of Paige, I used the same Heroclix Maria Hill that I used as the base before, but used green stuff to add her helmet and cloak. For her helmet antenna, I cut a couple of small strips from some plastic packaging.

She looks ready to kick some butt.

Tron - He Fights for the Users

I've done most of the Tron: Uprising characters, but from the original movie I've only done Flynn.

So, it's about time I do the guy the movie was named after.

What to say about Tron that I didn't already say when I did his Tron: Uprising version?

Tron is cool and Bruce Boxleitner is cool.

For Tron, I used the Northstar Heroclix and used green stuff to add his pads, helmet, and disk. I tried a few different ways of painting his circuitry, but in the end went with kind of suggesting it, rather than actually trying to follow the pattern.

The pose turned out pretty good. He looks like he's about to chuck that disk at someone. And over-sized Sark, perhaps?

Now, I need to find a good base for Sark. And Yori.

Madame Rouge - Brotherhood of Evil

In cartoons, female villains are often played as sympathetic (and possible love interests for heroes). Or, they may have some character weakness that makes them less effective. (Like the Baroness and her Jealousy.)

And then there's Madame Rouge, who seems to be 100% evil and loving it.

On my first viewing of Teen Titans Season Five, I wasn't that into the Brotherhood of Evil. They weren't as interesting as the H.I.V.E. Five in my book.

But watching again, I see they weren't meant to be sympathetic like other villains in the show. They're evil. (It's right there in the name.)

For Madame Rouge, who I keep wanting to call Madame Rogue, I used a Chameleon Girl Heroclix and tried to fashion Rouge's hairstyle with limited success.

I think the pose on this mini really sells it.

Raven - Teen Titan

Since I never read DC growing up, I never knew anything about Raven or her powers. I knew her name and that she was a blue cloak, but that's about it.

I thought she turned into a bird or something.

So, watching Teen Titans Go! gave me a good primer on the character before I really dug in with the original series. And  it turns out, Raven is pretty cool.

If Terra is my favorite Titan, Raven is a close second. And I did four miniatures for Terra, so you can expect at least a few more Raven minis too.

I found the Phantom Girl mini and noticed the pose lined up pretty well with Raven's teleporting from the Teen Titans intro, so I added her cloak with green stuff and then made the portal around her using paper cut from a playing card. And it matches pretty well!

Shipping Dept.
Since I already did a mini of Terra and Beast Boy, it's probably obvious I don't ship Raven and BB. Instead, I prefer a different pairing.

Aqualad - Titans East

As mentioned before, I came to the original Teen Titans cartoon by way of Teen Titans Go! so I knew Wil Wheaton voiced Aqualad in TTG, but didn't realize he did the voice in the original cartoon as well.

And I have to say, Wheaton's voice work for Aqualad may be some of my favorite stuff he's ever done. So, of course I needed an Aqualad miniature...

Sure, they make Aqualad Heroclix, but not this one. And the one that I thought was the best fit wasn't even a water-type figure, but instead was Lighting Lord. All I had to do was repaint him and boom: Aqualad.

Ghazan - Red Lotus Lavabender

Man, it's hard to say who is the coolest member of the Red Lotus group. Each one of them is a bad-ass in their own way.

However, only Ghazan has that sweet 'stache.

I like Ghazan because, compared to the rest of the Red Lotus, he's kind of upbeat. Sure, he's a crazy criminal guy, but he seems to be having fun. He even humored Bolin and let him ask questions when they had Bolin and Mako captive.

Plus, he single-handedly did something the Fire Nation wasn't able to do: take down the walls of Ba Sing Se.

The mini I picked for Ghazan was the Ares Heroclix and I didn't realize it when I ordered it, but the mini had a sword in place of a left hand, so I had to fashion a new left hand for Ghazan from green stuff.

I also added some details to his robes. Looking at it now, I think I should have continued the yellow stripes down past his belt, but at the time it looked right.

I don't think I did his mustache justice though...

Suyin Beifong - Leader of Zaofu

One might expect my first Beifong to be Toph or Lin, but I still haven't found minis that I like for them. Suyin on the other hand I knew immediately which one I was going to use.

Since Toph was my favorite character from the original series, and Lin was my favorite from Season 1, it's probably no surprise that I like Lin as well. The contrast between her and Lin is a good story point. Even in the middle of the Season 3's high stakes plot, I'm glad they took the time to give us their back story and let them fight out their differences.

For Su, I used a Dungeons and Dragons Combat Medic mini and removed the weapon and arm shield, which is why her left hand looks a little weird. I left some of the metal parts with the original paint because I liked the effect. Due to her longer sleeves, I skipped the arm braces since it would be hard to do them justice.

Iknik Blackstone Varrick - Eccentric Businessman

The introduction of Varrick is one of the reasons I liked Season 2 more than Season 1 of Legend of Korra the first time I watched it.

Varrick is a character that Korra needed, and not just for his humor. In a world like the Avatar series takes place in, it's easy to paint everyone as either black or white,  good or bad, on the heroes side or against them.

Varrick is grey for most of the series. His interests are his own and he'll gladly help if it furthers his plans and refuse if it hinders them. Have a morally grey character who can become entangled with the other characters plans is always fun.

Plus, he's hilarious.

I used the White King Heroclix for Varrick and used green stuff to adjust his hair. The coat isn't quite an exact match...the cut is different and the collar isn't fur.

But I bet Varrick has a dozen variations on that coat anyway.

Terra? - Schoolgirl

"Things change, Beast Boy. The girl you want me to be is just a memory."


When I watched Teen Titans the first time through, I finished episode 64, "Titans Together", and was like, "OK, that's the end of the series." But then I saw there was one more episode.

What was left to do, I wondered.

Other than sink some ships.

At first, I didn't like "Things Change." For one thing, it sank my favorite ship. But more than that, it ended the series on a weird note and in a way that made me wonder if Terra was even happy. All we see is her being uneasy around Beast Boy (and him nervous around her) but we don't really know if this is what she wants.

Thankfully, they addressed this somewhat in issue #51 of the Teen Titans Go! comic. In that issue, Geo-Force shows up and gives us Terra's back story and, more importantly than that, we get to see her with her school friends and she's...happy. Geo-Force even comments on it:

All that being said, I can't help but wonder if she still has her powers or not, which kind of led into using the mini I did.

I bought the Golden Glider Heroclix to use for a different character, but as I started working on it, I started to see it as Terra. So, I decided to make it Terra as a student...but maybe sometimes she can't help but use her power. Or maybe it was gone and now it's returned.

Just like Terra.

Terra - Slade's Apprentice

"My name is Terra and I have done horrible things."

It's tempting to ponder 'what if'...what if Terra had trusted the Titans more? What if Beast Boy had not turned away, telling her she had no friends?

But as much as I wish I could have avoided Terra's turn to the "dark side", what happened is what happened.

And while I don't agree with what she did, I can understand why she did it. As pointed out here, she was repeatedly sent the message that she didn't belong. She couldn't control her power and felt she had no one to turn to.

Except Slade.

We all make mistakes...

For Terra's apprentice outfit, I used a Black Widow Heroclix and added the details with green stuff. I also added some hair to cover her eye.

It's a bit hard to see, but the Slade logo is there as well.

Terra & Beast Boy

You can't talk about Terra without talking about Beast Boy.

Terra and Beast Boy are just adorable and, unfortunately, also tragic. Ashley Johnson and Greg Cipes did such great work bringing the emotions, good and bad, of those characters. It's just an amazing job.

From watching the Teen Titans Go! cartoon, I can see why people ship Raven with Beast Boy, and I like Raven a lot, but I gotta go with Terra x Beast Boy for this show.

With this mini, I'm almost moving into diorama territory. The Stargirl Heroclix that I used for the base has Stargirl and...some guy? Don't know, but she's floating on a staff-thingy, which I converted into some flying rock.

I was thinking of the scene in "Betrayal" when Terra comes to Beast Boy's window. Surprisingly, it's not easy to find pictures of the two of them on a rock together. Well, not official artwork at least.

Oh, in addition to making the rock, I gave the other guy ears to make him more Beast Boy like.

Terra - Teen Titan

I was not a DC fan growing up. For whatever reason, I just never got into DC, so my knowledge of DC stuff was pretty much just the Super Friends for a long time.

Up until recently, I probably couldn't have named any of the Teen Titans beyond Robin and Cyborg. I never watched the show when it was on the air, and my introduction to the Teen Titans actually came from the current Teen Titans Go! cartoon, which is...probably not the optimal way to learn about them.

But I went back to the old show and it's great. And my favorite character, and now favorite superhero all around, is Terra.

While I admit my DC knowledge is sparse, thanks to the Major Spoilers Podcast (episode #17), I am familiar with Terra's betrayal storyline in the comics. So, when she showed up in the show, I knew basically what was coming...and I almost stopped watching. Not because I didn't like it. But because I thought...maybe if I stop watching...I can keep Terra from making a HUGE mistake.

But, I had to let the storyline play out. i had to see how it ended and, for the most part, I'm satisfied with her story arc. (I'm definitely glad the Teen Titans Go! comic provided a little bit more closure.)

I like Terra enough, that I have already done some more minis of her...coming later this week.

For this version, showing her outfit when she first meets the rest of the Titans, I used a Spider-Girl Heroclix and used green stuff to make her hair and goggles and other details.

Arcee - Autobot Warrior

Arcee wasn't the first female Transformer, but she's probably the most well known. It is kind of a shame they made her so pink though. Nothing wrong with pink, but making the first major female Autobot pink is a little on the nose.

I feel bad for G1 Arcee because she's had some pretty bad characterization over the years. In the original movie and cartoon, she was just kind of the team mom. I didn't see much of the Headmasters, but that looks like it was pretty weird. Then flash forward to the recent IDW comics where she's kind of a maniac-assassin and, well, it's pretty rough.

It seems like recent issues are tempering that though. She's a bit less ax-crazy and showing some real depth.

For Arcee, I used the Moondragon Heroclix and added her helmet and back-thingies with green stuff.

No vehicle mode because I didn't have a Micro Machine that matched her awesome space car.

Chromia - Autobot Bodyguard

I'm not sure if that's technically Chromia's function, but she serves as Windblade's bodyguard in the IDW Windblade series by Mairghread Scott (which is where I know her from) so it makes sense to me.

Converting Heroclix to Transformers is a little difficult since I'm trying to change humans to robot shapes. So, I tend to try to pick robotic type Heroclix to work with. So, for Chromia, I used the Heroclix Rescue miniature and added details with green stuff. Her face gave me a lot of trouble and I'm not totally happy with it still, but it works.

For her vehicle mode, I used a Micro Machines Spider-Man Cycle. I don't know why Spider-Man had such a futuristic cycle, but whatever. I used green stuff to adjust the look and make it more Chromia looking.

As a side note, this may be one of the last Transformers conversions I do with a vehicle version. Micro Machines are pretty expensive, more so than most of the miniatures I use, so it's just not worth it. Going forward, most Transformer conversion will probably be just the robot mode.

Firewall - G.I. Joe Hacker

I know virtually nothing about Firewall beyond what I learned playing the now-defunct G.I. Joe Battleground mobile game: she's a hacker, a pistol expert, and trained under Mainframe.

I never read the Devil's Due G.I. Joe comics, but it seems like that version has pigtails and gets tied up or something? And she has a role in one of the G.I. Joe \ Transformers crossover?

Who knows?

Anyways, while I don't know much about her, I liked her card art in the game, so I made a mini for her.

I used the Heroclix Sasha Bordeaux, even though the pants weren't quite right. Also, I seem to have forgotten to give her gloves.

Maybe this is her casual uniform?

Frostbite - Snow Cat Driver

Hey, another winter themed Joe!

I always like the winter themed Joes and Cobras. And there were plenty of them...more than any other theme, I think.

Frostbite was the Snow Cat driver, but to me he was the guy who came with the coolest gun. I'm pretty sure his gun got shared by all the Joes and Cobras at one point or another. Much like the Snow Serpent's AK-47.

For Frostbite, I used the Heroclix Red Ghost and removed the long hair and replaced it with Frostbite's winter hat and goggles. I add his shoulder holster too, although I made the strap look like it goes under the hood of his parka. The parka isn't an exact match for Frostbite's coat, but close enough for me.

I didn't base him on a snowy base so he'd match the other Joes. Besides, they had so many winter guys, they had to send them out on non-winter missions now and then.

Zarana - Zartan's Sister (do-over)

I've done Zarana before, but it was more like me trying to force a mini to look like her. It wasn't one I handpicked with Zarana in mind.

*This* Zarana on the other hand, I knew would work.

I tried to match her a little more to the cartoon version this time, which is pretty much the same except for the hair.

I used the Misty Knight Heroclix and replaced the hair with green stuff. And then added her shirt and knee pads with green stuff.

Still not fond of the toy line just identifying her as "Zartan's Sister" but it is what it is.

Equalist - Anti-bending Revolutionary

In the original Avatar series, one of the most effective fighters was a non-bender: Ty Lee. With her chi blocking technique, she was able to easily take down benders. And she was pretty much the only one we saw chi blocking.

So, a whole army of terrorists trained in chi blocking? Yeah, The Legend of Korra really cranked up the difficulty.

The great thing about the Equalists is it gave Korra an enemy similar to the Stormtroopers from Star Wars: a mass of faceless minions to fight.

Unlike Stormtroopers though, the Equalists are actually very skilled opponents. (Well, for everyone but Asami who went through them like a Future Industries manufactured knife through butter.)

For the Equalist, I used a Star Wars Miniature Elite Sith Assassin and used green stuff to modify him.

The one unfortunate thing about this mini is that his pose kind of looks like he's ringing a doorbell. Not very action-oriented.